Top Ten Things I Still Love About My College House

Three years ago I moved out of this house to join the real world, and it was horrifying. Not only was I moving 'away' from college, but my bestie and then next door neighbor was moving too, the worst.  This house, and my room (the two windows on the right) defined my college life.

Here are my top ten memories in this house.

-Celebrated my twenty first birthday by drinking, playing beer pong, and eating pizza in the front yard (it was lawn back in the day). I wore a black bondage dress that zipped up the front. It was a classy scene to say the least, you mean that's not a normal birthday celebration?

-Vacuumed our kitchen, it had carpet, and I am pretty sure this is a first for any house, ever.  No matter how many times we vacuumed it, it never felt clean.

-Had my bestie next door, and I spent the last night of college running to and from her house in my underwear. The story behind this is not might not be appropriate for the le blog, time will tell.

-We spent spring days out in our front yard (told you it was grass) like this. When I wasn't working or in class that is.

-My bed was in a nook, which was perfection.  There is nothing better than a nook bed, except maybe the King size I share now, but in college everyone needs a nook bed with a light that has a pull string.

-Had four roommates (seen below), four bedrooms, and dun dun dun one bathroom. It made for an interesting year that's for sure, we got exceptionally close.  Man was Brad in over his head when he signed up to live with us three girls.

-Locked our roommates hockey pledges in the basement, hey it wasn't the girls idea.

-Taylor Lautner was our fifth roommate, he lived in the living room, I'll explain.  We had life size cut out that looked out the living room window to the street.  We wanted people to think there was always someone home.

-Random mac PhotoBooth sessions before going out were normal.  The roll taken this night was about 37 pictures, we may have been a little drunk before we went out.  Gosh those were the days...

-My Grandma once showed up in our front yard, remember I'm a local gal.  If that wasn't weird enough watching her start at my shirtless male roommate was. P.S. I'm totally going to be that old lady someday.

-Solved serious mysteries...seriously. What bars did we go to last night?

Can't believe it's been four years.

Loved that house, and will always love these memories.

Cant wait for our roommate reunion March 2014.

I Don't Save Lives or Change the World, But I Love What I Do

I'm still working for the same company I worked for during college, what's it to you.  No I'm not still making that wage, although it wasn't bad when I was a full time student and had all my job money to spend on useless things on shoes, at the bar, and useless trips to Target.  Gone are those days, hello car insurance, cell phone bill, and 401K.  Guess it's a good thing I am 'making more money' although to me it's debatable.

via

Now I won't tell you what I actually do IRL (in real life for all wondering), I have to keep some aspect of my life a mystery.  But I will tell you I am certainly not in the business saving lives, creating a cure for cancer, or studying the environment and figuring out how to preserve it, and I am totally okay with that.  I am doing something semi-related to my major, which according to google is not as common as you might think.

For all those who clicked the link, I apologize. Looking at the stats in the second link makes going to college seem like it was optional, like the customer service survey that Comcast invites you to take after the inevitable 37 minute technical support phone call you are about to endure.  On a more serious note, does anyone ever do that?

Did I mention that I bring this little girl to work sometimes too, well I do.

I have accepted that graduating college in the height of recession (that's an oxymoron if I ever heard one), with a soft degree had potential to be horrible.  Hearing stories of people with graduate degrees job hunting for months on end with no success,  people moving back home for lack of anything else to do, and any place else to go.  But hey that wouldn't be so bad, my Mom makes awesome food, irons, and my parents have a three car garage. I'd say that's living the high life, but then again maybe not. Would I really want to explain to my parents where I was if I hadn't come home...awkward. 

I'm in the business of enjoying the forty hours a week I spend away from my house, my family, my dog, and my life. The forty hours I spend with co-workers that often feel like family, and I the word office are often used synonymously with 'home'.  I'm not saying I have found my forever dream job, because of that I am not yet certain, but what I will say is I am continually challenged, engaged, and growing as a person and employee. I like my hours, and my company culture, and hey I get paid too.

For all you other folk out there, it'd be great if you could continue to preserve the environment, develop a caner cure, and saving lives, because heavens knows I'm not doing it. It takes all types of people to make the world go round, and that is simple a beautiful thing.

Becuase We're Just Not Old Enough For That

It's been over two years since I've seen her, which is basically like suicide in best friend world. 

Oh what the East Coast and mid twenties will do to friendships post college...almost impossible.

The last time we met up for a short weekend in Boston where she drove 6+ hours through a terrible storm to spend two short nights with me and some friends, drunkenly.  But we made time count by seeing a Red Sox game, and cuddling in bed together.

But in the middle of a serious (yet medically unidentified) quarter life crisis she booked a ticket to CA, and we'll be reunited once again, and she's here.  Thank bejeezus.

This weekend we have ideas of doing super adult things like going to coffee shops, eating nice dinners, and taking a zillion pictures for our blogs, all of which I'm sure we'll do.

I'm also certain that the coffee might just be Starbucks as we stumble down the street, our meals might not be quite as nice as we planned, and majority of our pictures will end up looking like this one (which admittedly was taken while we were stone cold sober).

But I'll leave that up to fate.

Maybe in our thirties we'll be ready for fancy dinners, spa days, and coffee dates.

Signs I'm Gettin' Older...

The other day while organizing pictures on my computer, I came the the realization that I am getting old.  Hate me for sayin' it, but I am definitely not getting any younger.

I don't say old in a bad way, I mean old as in entering a different phase of life.  College seems so distant, so far behind me, and so ridiculous.  In my head I started to compare college Kaylin with current Kaylin and then I had a light bulb. Blog post.

So here are a few things that came to mind that make me VERY aware that I am getting older.

...you start browsing the wrinkle creams at Target (it's never too early to start right???)


...making dinner requires a recipe not a box or microwave

...'pre gaming' in a single glass of wine not an entire bottle of champagne...
cough, my 21st birthday, cough.

...you pick up a dress at F21 thinking it'd be a really cute shirt, when in college it'd be a dress
(the one in the picture above probably probably should have been a shirt...just sayin')

...your exciting Friday is making a new recipe and playing game with friends with a bottle of wine

...8am is considered 'sleeping in'

...tax returns are used on things like oil changes, back splashes, and dog food.

...sleeping less than 6 hours a night almost kills you

...your facebook news feed is used for engagements, weddings, and babies

(remember this post??)

...your facebook news feed hasn't had photos added in the past two weeks
(would that EVER have happened in college??)

...reading is fun, not required
(If you haven't read this book, go read it now)

...working out is to get fit, not to burn off shots and beer.

...doing your hair isn't just for 'formals', it's for work meeting, weddings and bachelorette parties

...Monday nights are spent at exercise class, not sorority meetings

...Summer vacation is a week (if you're using your vacation days), not months

...the kids that are in college now were born in the mid nineties....yikes.

...you realize that N'SYNC was cool a decade ago.
(but we all know Justin's still got it goin' on)

...wearing matching outfits with your friends is considered weird

Oh hey Nadine

...when the number of times you've been out 'til last call annually can be counted on one (maybe two) hands.

 Any other things that make you feel old?
I'd Love to hear 'em.

Dumb with a Degree

Growing up a local gal, was quite easy.  Growing up in a upper middle class, well educated, University town, with one of the best public education systems in the State on the other hand was quite hard.

In High School I wasn't dumb, but if you remember this post, you remember that I always kept myself busy with sports, field hockey, work, and hanging out with friends, and I managed to graduate with a 3.89GPA.  If it hadn't been for darned pre-calc, I might have had a shot at that 4.0...darn you Mrs. Moldenhauer. 

But when you're best friend (seen above) has a cumulative 4.3GPA, your other best friend is going to college on a full ride, and your ex-boyfriend (if that's what one would even call him) was recruited to play soccer at Stanford, it's easy to feel as if you're not quite 'fitting in'.  

For my town 'fitting in' is rockin' High School out (my other best friend went on to go to Princeton), and following it up directly with the best four year college, ever.  I kid you not here are the list of the schools my close friends went to:

Stanford

Carleton

UCLA

Pinceton

Harvard

Cal

Brown

Georgetown

just to name a few...

And here I was going to an awesome school, in fact, my school is ranked nationally as one of the best public schools in the nation, but I was left feeling dumb below average.  Compared to my peers, it seemed like I hadn't quite made it, like I hadn't done the very bestest I could in High School.  It's hard to compete with a list like this, if you know what I mean.

So after a long summer, we all went off to College to have the best four years of our lives (which I must say I did, remember this post)... and it was not until after college graduation that it hit me.

College isn't about the college you go to, it's about what you make of it (and no I don't mean how many parties you went to, or how many tests you aced, etc.).  It's about making connections, with people, with co-workers, with classmates to build the skill sets you'll utlizie the rest of your life, wherever you are going after college (traveling, work force, grad school, med school, etc.)

I will say, even after coming to this realization, I was proud of myself for graduating, and landing a job that I enjoy.  Not everyone from that list of Colleges I mentioned above was quite so lucky.

So yeah, I might not be the smartest, at times I still think about my best friends (now in Vet School, Med School, and a PhD program), and feel a tad, 'dumb'. 

 But I did do something pretty darn awesome. 

College: Four Years, Four Binders

I've been clearing all my belongings that my parents so kindly piled in their garage, and I came across ALL my college school work.
I had saved every quarters worth of essays, readers, notes, and tests. 

Thinking someday, maybe I'd reference them again.

TOTALLY WRONG.

Haven't though about them once since I graduated.

Here is what my four years (sixteen quarters) of college paired down to, after saving some writing sample, and class notes that I MIGHT use in the future.

Four binders.

Four measly binders.

This wouldn't make you think I went to a nationally ranked school would it????

Got you there, because I DID.
Thanks Mom and Dad for my college education.
Aren't you scared this is what I have to show for it???

But let's be honest sifting through all this school work made me nostalgic.

Not for classes, but for college life.

Although my four years of classes can be represented in four binders.

I have 2,209,284,573 pictures to show my four years.

 Those were the years.
No worrying about your 401K.
No facetime-ing with your best friend, because they live next door.
No wondering if three coffees in one day were too many?

There is nothing that will really prepare you for life after graduation.
Everything changes.

No more living with my best friends.
No more Monday sorority meetings.
No more working only 20 hours a week?
No more, "Can I borrow that shirt tonight?"
No more, what party are you going to?
No more campus culture.
No more every weekday weekends.

So this post is dedicated to my awesome college years.

When 3am bedtimes and 7:30 wakes ups were manageable.
When red cups and ping pong balls were found in every kitchen.
When matching shirts for every big event were standard procedure.
When biking was cooler than driving.
When Aunies Mac n Cheese was dinner more than once a week.
When Real Housewives and The Hills were weekly events.
When last minute road trips were normal.

 

I loved my college life (above)
In Better News.
I love my life now too (below)!!!

 

Happy Wednesday Ladies.

Hump Day.